Our pick of the best...
Caroline Sanderson reveals the best non-fiction heading for our bookshelves in 2021…
Whatever 2021 has in store for us, one thing is certain: there will be plenty of wonderful non-fiction books to distract, console, entertain and inform us.
January brings TV presenter Fearne Cotton’s Speak Your Truth in which she explores how to find your voice, assert yourself and speak out with confidence. She also writes for the first time about her struggle with an eating disorder.
Out in the same month t is Breathtaking by Rachel Clarke, a doctor and author who has become a spokesperson for frontline NHS workers. Her book aims to capture how the first wave of Covid-19 felt for patients, families and staff.
In
One Of The Family
(February), broadcaster Nicky Campbell reveals how the unconditional love of his Labrador Maxwell helped him come to terms with being adopted as a child, enabling him to turn his life around.
In the same month, look out for a second memoir from former rugby star Gareth Thomas. In Stronger, he describes how he dealt with the adversity life has thrown at him, including his recent HIV diagnosis.
Microsoft main man Bill Gates explains How To Avoid A Climate Disaster while TV’s Mr Survival, Ray Mears, returns with
We Are Nature: How To Reconnect Ourselves With The Wild.
He gathers all the knowledge he’s gleaned from global travels and helps us to tune our senses, enhance our experience of nature, and understand our place within it.
Raceless by Georgina Lawton is an extraordinary debut memoir of growing up mixed race in a white family and exploring the truth of her origins. And Brown Baby by Nikesh Shukla is a humane and beautiful exploration of grief, fatherhood and racism.
In March, look out for You’ve Got This: And
Other Things I Wish I’d Known
by Louise Redknapp in which the singer and presenter shares the wisdom she has learned during her 25-year career. It’s described as an “empowering guide to embracing life”.
Meanwhile Love Island presenter Laura Whitmore gives us No One Can Change Your Life Except For You, a self-help book exploring her experiences of overcoming heartbreak, body image worries, self-doubt and insecurity.
Royal biographer Andrew Morton returns with
Elizabeth & Margaret: The Intimate World Of The Windsor Sisters
in which he promises unique insights into these two drastically different royal siblings.
And much-loved children’s author Michael Rosen gives us
Many Different Kinds Of Love: A Story Of Love, Death And The NHS,
written in the wake of his battle with Covid-19 which almost killed him.
April brings a memoir from Hollywood legend Sharon Stone, The Beauty Of Living Twice, about rebuilding her life after suffering a massive stroke. The Boy by Richard Williams is a biography of legendary racing driver Stirling Moss, while Medical Grade Music by Steve Davis and Kavus Torabi tells the unlikely story of how the six-time World Snooker Champion became a techno DJ and underground music legend.
In
The Madness Of Grief,
former pop star, parish priest and BBC Radio 4 presenter Reverend Richard Coles writes about losing his partner of 12 years and coping with “the madness of grief ” after his death, while BBC broadcaster Kate Silverton offers an essential guide for parents of young children in
There’s No Such Thing As Naughty. Walk In My Combat Boots,
And in
bestselling novelist James Patterson teams up with Matt Eversmann, the decorated war hero immortalised in the film
Black Hawk Down, to bring us first-hand experiences of life on the front line of battle.
In May, look out for an inspiring memoir from Jay Blades, star of The
Repair Shop, in which he looks back on his council estate childhood and reflects on turning his life around when everything seemed hopeless.
Veteran football commentator Clive Tyldesley gives us Alright On The Mic, a love letter to football, while Daniel Kahneman, author of mega-bestseller Thinking Fast And Slow, returns with Noise and explains how we can make better decisions.
And Joe Wicks, the nation’s favourite fitness coach and proud dad of two, is back with Joe’s Family Food in which he aims to turn cooking and eating nutritious meals into a social, fun activity for all the family.
June brings Rememberings by Sinéad O’Connor, a revelatory memoir in which the singer-songwriter looks back on her difficult childhood, musical triumphs, and struggles with illness, as well as celebrating the enduring power of song. Pragya Agarwal, author of influential psychology book Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias, is back with (M)otherhood in which she examines how motherhood and fertility shapes all our lives, while former Prime Minister
Gordon Brown gives us
Seven Ways To Change The World
in which he offers a new way forward in the wake of the pandemic.
In Tornado, John Nichol, who was shot down during the Gulf War, tells the epic story of the aircraft, its missions and its pilots during Operation Desert Storm. And My Amy by Tyler James is an intimate look at the life of Amy Winehouse by her best friend, published to mark the 10th anniversary of the singer’s tragic death. And in July, we can look forward to Book by Matt Haig, a timely compilation of comfort reading and consolations; while actor and film director Stanley Tucci brings us food memoir Taste. Finally, Ways To Change The World is a one-stop guide to making the world a better place by Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
The Comfort